Immersion's MOTIV development platform integrates haptics into Android, we go hands-on
You may know that Immersion's haptic technology is in everything from surgical simulators to game controllers, but we're willing to bet you didn't know it's already baked into over 200 million existing devices -- including every Samsung Galaxy S smartphone and handsets by Nokia and LG. Now, using Android handsets' existing vibrator motors, a cheap software upgrade can inject force feedback into existing elements across the entire Android UI (2.2 and up), and with future devices -- built with multi-dollar piezoelectric actuators that vibrate the screen itself -- the haptic experience goes hi-fi. Now that it's revealed that little easter egg to the world, Immersion wants you to build some apps, and to that end it's releasing the MOTIV developer platform this March. Read all about it after the break.
So what's MOTIV? One, it's an SDK, which lets devs configure haptic feedback every which way. Two, it's a packaged solution for OEMs to bake into devices from the factory on, adding 150 stock taps, clicks, and rumbles which you feel every time you press a stock Android button or scroll through a list. Of course, apps would need to actually use the corresponding Android UI elements to take advantage of the feedback, but Immersion's got a backup plan: the package also comes with a nifty Reverb module that actually analyzes the sound output of your device and adds corresponding haptic feedback -- which definitely adds a little something extra to movies and games.
The piezo-enabled phone we saw was a dev unit built in-house (read: not for production) with Nexus One underpinnings. When we compared the experience using the dev unit to the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab, the difference between them was readily apparent. Playing a guitar app on the dev unit was satisfying -- we could feel each individual string as we strummed the screen -- but the Galaxy's feedback, with just a standard vibrator motor, felt muddled in comparison. Ditto for the pinball game we played next -- both Samsung devices let us feel the bumps and shakes you'd expect from such a game, but the dev handset was better able to localize and differentiate the different types of feedback built into the game thanks to the piezoelectric element.
We also got to feel how the effects are incorporated into the general Android UI, and came away impressed -- for us, the addition of haptic feedback really did make touchscreen use a more precise experience. The click-click-click vibration under our fingers (like a tactile iPod clickwheel) as we scrolled through a list or the feeling of individual on-screen buttons as our fingers dragged across them were welcome additions, especially for free, although we have to admit the slightly more expensive piezoelectric handset was where we felt the offering truly compelling. Unfortunately, Immersion admitted that though piezo components are readily available from numerous suppliers, there aren't any such handsets currently in the works, so we'll have to hope developers embrace the inferior vibrator motors and build compelling enough apps for the idea of mobile haptics to take off. Chicken, meet egg.
The piezo-enabled phone we saw was a dev unit built in-house (read: not for production) with Nexus One underpinnings. When we compared the experience using the dev unit to the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab, the difference between them was readily apparent. Playing a guitar app on the dev unit was satisfying -- we could feel each individual string as we strummed the screen -- but the Galaxy's feedback, with just a standard vibrator motor, felt muddled in comparison. Ditto for the pinball game we played next -- both Samsung devices let us feel the bumps and shakes you'd expect from such a game, but the dev handset was better able to localize and differentiate the different types of feedback built into the game thanks to the piezoelectric element.
We also got to feel how the effects are incorporated into the general Android UI, and came away impressed -- for us, the addition of haptic feedback really did make touchscreen use a more precise experience. The click-click-click vibration under our fingers (like a tactile iPod clickwheel) as we scrolled through a list or the feeling of individual on-screen buttons as our fingers dragged across them were welcome additions, especially for free, although we have to admit the slightly more expensive piezoelectric handset was where we felt the offering truly compelling. Unfortunately, Immersion admitted that though piezo components are readily available from numerous suppliers, there aren't any such handsets currently in the works, so we'll have to hope developers embrace the inferior vibrator motors and build compelling enough apps for the idea of mobile haptics to take off. Chicken, meet egg.
Source : Engadget
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